Preface

HöfundurÚtgefandiÚtgáfuárÚtgáfustaður
Aðalsteinn Sigurgeirsson, Snorri BaldurssonBændasamtök Íslands, Bændaskólinn á Hvanneyri, Rannsóknastofnun landbúnaðarins, Rannsóknastöð Skógræktar ríkisins, Tilraunastöð háskólans í meinafræði, Veiðimálastofnun1995Reykjavík
RitÁrgangurTölublaðBls.
Búvísindi93


This publication contains papers from the Ninth annual meeting of the Nordic Group for Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, held at Hallormsstadur in East Iceland on June 12-16, 1996. The topic of this year's meeting was: "Exotics; a threat or a benefit." This topic is particularly relevant for forestry in Iceland, where afforestation programmes rely heavily on the use of exotic species. The meeting was organised by Dr Aðalsteinn Sigurgeirsson and Dr Snorri Baldursson, with assistance from Dr Árni Bragason and Dr Thröstur Eysteinsson.

The program was divided into two sections:
    1. Historical perspectives on natural and human-influenced migrations of foresttree species.

    2. Strategies for the introduction, deployment and breeding of exotics.

Papers were presented during the first two days of the meeting (June 13th and 14th). The 17 lectures were delivered in English, and 15 of these are published here, with summaries in Icelandic. Participants were 34; 14 from Iceland, 8 from Finland, 7 from Sweden, 3 from Norway, 1 from Denmark and I from France. In addition, numerous individuals from the forestry sector in the Fljótsdal district attended the meeting for longer or shorter periods of time. On June 15th and 16th, a field excursion was made to various sites of scientific interest along the East and South Coast, in order to demonstrate plantations of exotic tree species and natural birch forests, and to observe afforestation and land reclamation activities on site.

We thank the authors of the published papers and other participants of the meeting for their valuable contribution. We sincerely thank staff members of the Iceland Forest Service, at Hallormsstaður and Egilsstaðir, and Barri hf., Egilsstaðir, for their cooperation, support and hospitality during the meeting. Mr Tryggvi Gunnarsson of the Agricultural Research Institute we thank for his work during the preparation of this publication and Mrs Auður Thorsteinsdóttir, of the Iceland Tourist Bureau, for travel and accommodation arrangements during the meeting. Special thanks go to the Iceland Forest Research Station, Iceland Forest Service and the Nordic Forest Research Cooperation Committee (SNS) for financial support.

Aðalsteinn Sigurgeirsson
Snorri Baldursson